at 8:30 eastern, the political science professor at norfolk state will focus on the history of the african american vote in virginia. we will also be joined by the editor in chief of the washington monthly to discuss a recent article in the magazine examining the consumer financial protection bureau. "washington journal" is next. ♪ host: this wednesday morning we would love to hear your take on foreign policy. specifically on what the governor -- former governor massachusetts, mitt romney, and president barack obama had said yesterday. specifically yesterday said --

specifically we want your general level confidence in each candidate on the area of foreign policy. here are the numbers to call. for democrats, 202-737-0001. for republicans, 202-737-0002. for independents, 202-628-0205. if you would like to take part in the program, there are different ways to do that. twitter.com/c-spanwj,an.o facebook.com or e-mail at journal@c-span.org. "the baltimore sun" encapsulate the speeches yesterday. they pointed out that president barack obama made an impassioned defense of the expression of freedom worldwide. mitt romney urged other nations to emulate the free economy and

suggested that the obama leadership in the middle east has been inadequate and reactive. this is a short piece to start us off from the president at united nations yesterday, talking about the middle east. [video clip] >> i believe that this message must be rejected by all those who respect our common humanity. i have made it clear that the united states had nothing to do with this video. it is an insult to muslims, and everyone. we are the home to muslims worship across our country. we not only respect the freedom of religion, we have laws that protect individuals from being harmed because of how they look or what they believe. we understand why people take offense to this video because millions of our citizens are among them.

host: more headlines following these speeches, "obama talks tough on mideast extremism." "uses addressed to regain the initiative on foreign policy." if you look at the front page of "the washington times" this , the right "the expected campaign advantage on foreign policy suddenly in doubt, the president portrayed the deaths of the americans in libya has inflamed tensions over an anti- islamic movie rather than tensions based on american policy in the middle east." from "the washington times," the headline says "romney, exchange

for reform." "seeking to carve ou host: here is mitt romney at the clinton global initiative. [video clip] >> the program identifies the barriers to trade and entrepreneurialism in developing nations, and in exchange we are opening their markets to investment and trade. they will receive assistance package is focused on developing rule of liberty, law, and property rights. we will focus our efforts on small and medium-sized businesses. micro finance has been annexed

-- a focused tool, but we need to expand to businesses that are too large for micro finance and to small for traditional banking. the aim of a much larger share of our aid must be the promotion of work and the fostering of free enterprise. >> one more front page before we get to your calls. here is a shot of former president bill clinton and governor romney at the event in new york after the introduction. they make the point in the cut line that both romney and president obama addressed the conference, but avoided directly attacking each other. more from the papers and the speeches, but we want to hear from you now. angelica, republican line. caller: i am in full support of president obama. i like the way he handles foreign policy, he is measured

and careful of what he says. when i look at mr. romney, i am so sick and tired of the fear and warmongering and am afraid that he would start another military conflict in the middle east. as a voter, on that topic alone, president obama has my vote, because i do not believe that we and the world can afford another military conflict on this planet. thank you for allowing me to talk this morning. have a good day. host: thank you for your comments this morning. round rock, texas. caller: i agree with the republican that just called in, i also support the president as far as foreign affairs go.

mr. romney used to belong to a chinese organization, it was an oil conglomerate. they were supporting iran. in 2011, mr. romney separated himself from these chinese oil conglomerate. he talks out of one side of his mouth, but acts out of another side. he said our greatest threat was russia when our greatest threat right now is al qaeda. i do not think that he has the experience or knowledge to help of foreign affairs. host: what do you make of his foreign policy affairs statement yesterday in new york?

caller: most of the things he has done have been to outsource jobs to other countries, he did not ask them to open up anything. i do not trust him. he is not in it for the lower class of americans. he is in it for the capital gain that he can get. host: thank you for calling. here is a message from twitter this morning -- host: more of the front pages this morning, from "the washington post," the president urged his counterparts to back democratic values. "the pittsburgh post-gazette"

this morning, "obama decries of violence." of course, iran is making a lot of headlines this morning in advance of the speech that will be made by the iranian leader, which we will have on c-span. here's more from the president. [video clips] >> we respect the right of nations to access peaceful power, but we need to see that that power is accessed for peace. make no mistake, a nuclear armed tehran is not a challenge that can be contained. it would threaten israel, the security of nations, and the stability of the global economy. it would risk triggering the unraveling of the non- proliferation treaty. that is why the united states

will do what we must to prevent iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon. host: we will have mitt romney in a moment. talking about iran. dorothy, thank you for waiting. caller: i have to agree with the first callers. mitt romney does not want one war, he wants two. russia and china. i do not want anything from over here from those third world countries or anything. we do not even want the stuff from china. it does not even work. the thing that he did about a 47%, he talked about a company that he had in china and the workers there, working through. i do not trust that romney. -- mitt romney.

he will put us in two wars. host: batten rouge, louisiana. caller: good morning. as far as not trusting it romney, they have had three years of this thing we have got now. it is unbelievable that anyone, anyone would support not only his foreign-policy, but his domestic policy, which is totally bankrupting this country. it is a shame. people cannot defeat the united states military, but years and years ago they said that they wouldn't come at us economically. that is exactly, exactly what is being done now. it is a crying shame, but it may be too late.

host: one more message from twitter this morning -- host: on our facebook page -- host: here is mitt romney speaking in new york city about iran. [video clip] >> we cannot forget that not far from here a voice of unspeakable evil and hatred has spoken out, threatening israel and the entire civilized world. we come together knowing that the bitterness of hate is no match for the strength of love. in the weeks ahead, i will continue to speak to these challenges and the opportunities

that this moment presents us that go beyond foreign assistance, speaking about the american strategy to secure our interests and ideals in this on certain time. host: laura, pennsylvania, hello. caller: up front i wanted to say, for the first caller that called herself a republican and went on to bash mitt romney, i do not know what you can do, these people are not republicans. if you can ask them who they voted for and they say obama, cut them off. they are lying, they are not republicans. we are talking about who will be the next president for the next four years and the direction this country will go in. foreign policy has become the number-one issue. it used to be the economy, stupid. it is still the economy, stupid.

like the independent who called, we are on the verge of bankruptcy. i think that mitt romney deserves a chance with met right bridge -- with paul ryan. they have a solid plan to turn this country around, to save social security, not cutting it, like all the old people are being indoctrinated with. one party is pro-life. one party is pro-choice. if we want four more years of these excuses of blaming bush, of blaming anything you can but still keeping people stagnant without rewarding small businesses -- small businesses create 74% of the jobs in this country. obama wants to tax them. does that make sense to anyone? and we are paying $800 million on interest alone?

we cannot sustain this. we need a change. especially you catholics, if you are voting for mr. obama, you may as well be complicity in the abortions taking place, because there are far too many and we need to solve these social and financial issues with a strong person who will defend our country, not make excuses that it is our fault for all of the things going on in the world. host: we will do this for about 25 more minutes, getting your thoughts. on campaign policy, governor romney and president obama sparring yesterday, that is how the headlines played. nicholas burns will be coming to us live from boston to take your calls. the former undersecretary of state for political affairs in the bush administration. the speech that we were referring to comes up at 10:30

a.m. eastern time. this will be at the un general assembly. we will stay with several other peaches -- speeches throughout the morning. ronald, good morning. caller: good morning, c-span. lots of republicans call in without looking at all the facts. i do not agree with obama's policies, i am a democrat, but i do agree with the fact that he is making a change, a definite change. mitt romney is not the candidate to be the next president. if he does, this country will turn into what he wants it to turn into, and that would be a

business. which is not what this country is. thank you. host: more reaction to the speeches this morning from the editorial page of "the wall street journal." they have this headline, quoting the iranian president -- host: reaction from "the new

york times," president obama at the u.n.. they write that there were two fairly large omissions in his address to the general assembly. the israeli-palestinian conflict and the syrian civil war, as well as the afghanistan situation and iraq. host: they do point out at the beginning of the editorial that there is a defense of free speech and condonation of anti- american violence. brad, brunswick, ohio. welcome. caller: the comments that obama was making about foreign-policy and the middle east, i understand what he was saying,

but i have a simple question. we might have wars overseas and i am a republican. i have always been a republican. i believe in mitt romney. the only thing that made me question this over the years, in america, the indians, no one ever fights to get their land back for them. i am not allowed to say anything about anyone that i know. they asked me not to make a comment about anyone back here. i just want to say that there is a very important person on the reservation named read the other. you never see him at the u.n., but they are trying to get to that point and get their land back. i wonder why we're not allowed to help them or fight for them.

host: a neat, independent line. hello. caller: i do not understand why mitt romney is saying that in order to exchange for foreign aid, he would like these countries to open up their foreign markets. it is like he is saying he wants to take more money from america and invest in foreign countries. he is saying to them -- let us take your natural resources and take your money, and in exchange, we will give you more money. i find it ironic that he would say this and that he would find this to be something that is acceptable and pleasing to people. i am a registered republican, but i am an independent right now and would like to make reference to an earlier caller

who said that republicans would not vote for obama but if obama had not found the mpaa, particularly the provision for detaining americans without due process, if obama had not signed that provision, i would be voting for obama as well. as fate would have it, i am going to be voting for gary johnson. that is all i have to say. host: back to the democratic line, betty, good morning. caller: good morning. thank you for your program. my comment, mitt romney is a businessman. he thinks business, he thinks capital gains, he thinks profits. our president is the president. he thinks about all the people, everything he has ever done, with his hands tied by congress, he tried to do for the people.

although bomb -- all that mitt romney wants to do is be president. it is a joke to him. this country is not a joke. the world is not a joke. people are suffering. people have dreams and aspirations. our president is sworn to make our dreams come true. i feel like mitt romney and paul ryan, what they wanted to do as far as cutting social security, cutting the lunch programs for the poor kids -- sometimes that is the only thing they have to eat all day. host: words from betty there, from baltimore. words of eleanor turner, somewhat echoing her comments. host: back to twitter --

host: here is a bit more from mitt romney yesterday in new york city and what he wants to achieve when it comes to america's role in the world. [video clip] >> i want to remind them of the bigness of the american heart. i never apologize for america. i believe the america is one of the greatest forces for good the world has ever known. host: from the editorial page of "the washington times," "the administration denounced the video that provoked outrage for extremists."

host: jody, california. go ahead. caller: i am an independent. i used to be a republican. i voted for ron paul. i registered as an independent. i cannot morally vote for mitt romney, obama, or anybody. actually, obama is a little better on foreign policy, but not really much. i am an independent now and i

will be voting for jerry johnson in the election. foreign policy is the most important thing that is breaking this country. you know? they are both running for president for netanyahu and israel is not even a state. it is made up by a bunch of illegals who invaded. it is really palestine. the all care to the -- cater to the israeli lobby. host: let me get in there and ask you about it -- about gary johnson and what he brings to the table. caller: he will cut all foreign aid, putting america first. that is what gets me, even at the democratic convention, i could not stomach the republican convention after what they did, breaking all the rules, but the aemocrats, the mayor viaragos

bob, he stood up for jerusalem being the capital of israel, and they had to ask it again and again, but he had to cater to the lobby because of his political aspirations. we were attacked on 9/11 because of our support for israel. giuliani gave them $12 billion to fix new york and the towers. they gave it back, because they said if you change or foreign- policy to the middle east, i will give it to you. this is the subject of foreign policy, russia today. hijack.com.

there are a lot of other places you can look. host: germain, thanks for waiting. caller: i saw the president's u.n. speech. i thought it was outstanding and it showed the president as someone who he is supposedly -- supposed to be. talking about people who have a different culture without freedom of speech, he interpersonal lies it by explaining the state department personnel -- he personalized it by explaining the state department personnel that were killed. some of the callers even this morning, he is the president of the united states, just deal with it. the other thing to analyze, when you are picking your candidate, look at what the candidate is actually saying. mitt romney has been the most non-specific candidate, even

more non-specific and bush, which i did not think was possible. he says he would be tough on the china, that there would be world peace. host: is there one issue that you would like to hear about with specifics? >> i have been watching all of the elections, with the republicans, going into the general election, he has not been specific on anything. he has basically been feeding meet to his crowd. you will find out the details after he becomes president. i know that on a regular job you cannot do that. i am a businessman. he needs to have general specifics to sway anyone to his side. he has to stop trying to roll around and get involved in american politics. host: we want to remind you that

we will be with the un speech is basically all this week. iran is the focus today. that is live, here on c-span. we will continue in the morning hours here with several other countries. you can watch any one of these any time that you want at our website. here is a little bit more from the president in new york yesterday regarding syria. [video clip] >> we have taken these positions because we believe that freedom and self-determination on not unique to one culture. these are universal values. even as there will be huge challenges to come in the transition to democracy, i am convinced that ultimately government of the people, by the people, and for the people is more likely to bring about prosperity and individual opportunity to serve as a basis

for peace in our world. host: in "the herald," they put it this way -- host: dallas, texas. bob, independent line.

caller: i am more of a liberal, but i applied my beliefs liberally to all issues. when the iranian president speaks about eliminating or wiping israel off the map, we must remember that one country was eliminated, wiped out, and that was palestine. no one speaks to that. he does not speak about annihilating. and i hate to defend him. he is all the things i find abhorrent as a liberal, but this year, we try to demonize this person when the issue is israel, a theocracy in the middle east that eliminated another country off the map, palestine.

it is only for people within the same religion. it is ridiculous. and his support comes from, you know, the same people who support that right here in america. thank you. host: carol, california. what is the name of your town? go ahead, your live on the air. caller, i feel that president obama has been doing a good job. and has a lot to do it when he came into office. no one seems to appreciate all the things he has done. i thought maybe he did not want to jump back into the war. i think he is more pro-life,

because he wants the drones. that is a good idea, though i could be wrong. sending drones instead of people to die. on the other hand, mitt romney -- first of all, it is clear to me, president obama is doing things to help everybody in the country. romney, first of all, i do not even understand how he is allowed to be in the race. he said something about iran, they should send a dirty bomb into chicago. how can you say something out of your mouth like that? he should be reprimanded for that. this guy is just way off.

lawrence,s hear from idaho falls, republican. good morning. caller: thank you for taking my call. i finally got a new phone and i guess it really works. anyway, what i have to say, you know, if you are going to meet with the united nations and you are right up there and you cannot take time out to do it because you are afraid that you will be seen as the president of the united states, if you're going to be president, obama, the president. that is what i have to say. host: we have some fresh facebook comments.

host: this message from twitter -- host: we will see what happened this morning. josh, va., independent caller. caller, i listened to the obama speech the other day and i found it very interesting. i found myself agreeing with what he had to say, but it was ironic that despite the fact that i was agreeing with what he had to say, it did not change the fact that more than likely, 99% of the possibility is that it was not just simple protest

situations in libya. i truly believe that that was set up by al qaeda. i believe that the information we have been given so far, given the people on the ground, the leaders of those countries, it seems to say that this was planned and set up. that it was all set up and preplanned. they did not show up with rocket launchers, r p g and what not. that was not an accident. that was preplanned. christine lost his life, an american citizen who came onto our soil. we need to have protection for those people who are risking their lives to represent those

foreign countries. sorry, obama, but you are dropping the ball. you have got to get better than that. host: on the presidential campaign trail, here is a picture of paul ryan and mitt romney on their campaign bus. this is from dayton, ohio. "tripping in ohio, run the stars two day bus tour." one of these was published in the post. "obama and florida are giving obama an edge." host: deeper into this story,

they write -- host: albuquerque, new mexico. democratic line. dale. caller: could not disagree with your last caller more. in libya there are people all the time that have are pg's, they have everything. right now, as far as foreign

policy overseas with our military and marines, those of us in america does need to hang out and let the professionals do their jobs. i am sticking with barack obama as president because of that. in 2008 he inherited this problem from our last ceo president. george w. bush. after all of this, he did not have a nervous breakdown. for the last four years, right now he is a man as far as i am concerned, anyone wanting to vote republican, they're looking for nuclear war with iran. if you want to send your kids oversees to die for reasons that you and i will not understand, i

am sticking with my man, barack obama. host: "the wall street journal" has this graph about democracy and violence. host: they have some key words comparing this year with last year. freedom is one of them. 15 times mentioned in this speech, last year it was 17. democracy mentioned 13 times in this speech, 31 year ago. violence, 13 times yesterday, 31 year ago. dawn is on the line from new haven, connecticut. good morning. caller: i know that the topic is foreign, but i wanted to just say that barack obama has always said that his favorite

president is abraham lincoln. i have a quote from abraham lincoln, can i read it? host: yes. caller: you cannot strengthen the weak by weakening the strong, you cannot bring about prosperity by discouraging thrift, you cannot look up the wage earner by pulling out -- pulling down the wage earner. you cannot build character and courage by taking away man's initiative and independence. you cannot help them man permanently by doing for him what they could and should do for themselves. host: what does that all mean to you? caller: it means that obama is not doing what abraham lincoln wrote. he is doing everything that --

he is doing everything different. he is trying to destroy the rich. what i mean by that is that -- if we destroy the people who give us our wages, we will not have any place to work anymore, will we? host: a couple of other headlines you might be interested in knowing about. china launched its -- launched its first aircraft carrier today. they are touting it as a move of strength, a refurbished soviet warships serving as a platform for its fighter jets. a couple of other topics out there today, "the washington times," maxine waters, "panel

clears waters of wrongdoing." host: there is also this pete -- this piece in "the washington post" about sheila bear. "bear book is blunt about the financial crisis." host: book coming out currently. couple more minutes, couple more

calls. mike, florida, independent line. caller: thank you for taking my call. i have done a lot of research. i am an independent. there are three areas of research from which i have got a lot of information. one is a best seller by edward klein, a noted liberal journalist. he has written a book that is called "the amateur." it shows what the obama philosophy is regarding foreign affairs. he leads in appeasement. my friend -- favor president has been ronald reagan, because he preached basically strength is the best way to handle our adversaries. the second book is the bob woodward book, showing obama's lack of confidence.

a non-negotiator who is over his head completely. the third reference, every fair minded american should see a, 2016, "obama's america." everyone should see it. when i was at the movie, my wife is a very liberal teacher, and people were standing up singing god bless america. people are scared stiff of obama. host: one last call, darlene. caller: i would like to say that i am very disappointed in obama. that he does not talk to these foreign leaders. he has hillary do it. is that not sad? he does not do it, hillary has to do his work. he lies about the foreign wars over there.

that is what i call them, because of of fighting. he does not do anything about it. there is one other question i would like to less -- how much is it costing the taxpayers to pay for all of the trips that michelle obama takes, flying all over the country about her sugar and her obesity? when she went over to the olympics, she met with the queen wearing her $7,000 jacket and was heard to say that kate middleton could have worn something nicer. host: coming up next, we will talk to nicholas burns. former ambassador to nato, analyzing the role of foreign policy in this campaign 2012. a bit later, the c-span tour bus is going through virginia.

today it will start -- stop in norfolk state to talk about the importance of virginia in camp in 2012. we will be right back. ♪ >> i watch c-span, especially when there are events going on. any time something is going on, i want to watch c-span, because they usually have the best view. if i want to get spun in a circle, i will watch one of the other news organizations. something going on and i want to know what is happening? i will always turn to c-span. i do not know if i have a favorite show, it is just that anytime i want to know what is going on, c-span will have the real story. >> josh truitt, he watches c-

span on cable. brought to you as a public service by your cable provider. >> september 11, 2001, it changed my life and the lives of every american. this will go through the attacks. it is pretty intense. a lot of things happened very quickly. i will do my best not to ramble on and go too fast. setback, clear your mind, put yourself in that room and get a real sense of what it was like to be at the top of the food chain, the national command authority, as this nation was attacked by 19 al qaeda terrorists. >> more from robert darling inside the president's bunker,

this weekend on "american history tv." >> "washington journal" continues. host: joining us in boston this morning, nicholas burns, former undersecretary of state from 2005 to 2008 for the george w. bush administration, currently teaching as a professor of diplomacy and international politics at harvard. thank you for joining us. you heard the speeches from new york and the play on these doing foreign policy points, what is your take away as far as each candidate and what they had to say? guest: it is very interesting the foreign policy has made a comeback in this campaign. it is a good thing for the americans who live in this

world. i thought that the president gave a very soft speech yesterday. covering a lot of ground, focusing on the middle east and these tragic events that took place two weeks ago, the assassination of the ambassador and his diplomatic colleagues in libya. president made two important points, saying that americans obviously want to show great religious tolerance for the views of others and he disassociated the united states from that hateful video made in california. but he also said, and this was his main point that he was passionate about, that americans have an abiding belief in freedom of speech and we have to protect those rights and if the government of bridges free speech by an oppressive minorities, it makes the world a more dangerous place. i thought the president made a compelling case there. his message for iran was that

while he wanted to negotiate differences through diplomacy if possible, time is not unlimited. i thought that was a good morning to the iranian government, which has been obstreperous and difficult to deal with. host: how about mitt romney? can you assess from which you have heard, seen, and written over the months? anything close to where you might call a mitt romney doctrine? how would you encapsulate it? >> obviously governor romney is a smart and successful person. he has been out talking about foreign policy, though i get the sense that is not the issue he wants to emphasize in this campaign. he obviously wanted to be about our unemployment rate. it is an unusual position for a republican to be in, running against a democrat with a strong position on national security. i have worked for republicans

and democrats in various administrations. i am not a political person, but it seems to me the republicans always try to run to the right of the democrats, but in this election you have president obama, who has taken us out of iraq, who has waged a very tough war against al qaeda and gone after that leadership, as well as osama bin laden, who has taken out the terrorists in yemen. president obama, i think because of his actions and his impressive record, he has boosted american credibility in other parts of the world. governor romney has been trying to assert that president obama is not strong enough on foreign policy, that he has not been as tough as he should be with china. i am not sure if that is getting through and i wonder if governor romney might be better revised in this campaign to articulate in a much more detailed way just

how he would change american foreign and national security policy on the big issues. how do we deal with russia, china, get out of afghanistan? so, as you know, the debates start next week and it looks like foreign policy will be a big part ofhe debate and i think it is healthy that we discussed these issues. host: we want your comments from the viewers out there. nicholas burns spent 27 years in the u.s. foreign service, for an undersecretary for political affairs. we would get your calls in a moment, numbers are on the bottom of the screen. we will read twitter messages as well. we want to talk about iran and begin with a short piece from the president yesterday from the u.n.. [video clip] >> we respect the right of

nations to access peaceful nuclear power, but one of the points of the united nations is to make sure that power is harness for peace. make no mistake, a nuclear-armed iran is not a challenge that can be contained. it would threaten the safety of israel, as well as the safety of the global economy. it risks triggering a nuclear arms race in the region. that is why a coalition of countries is holding the iranian government accountable. that is why the united states will do what we must to prevent iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon. host: any messages that you heard the president? postures'? speak to recent history. go ahead. guest: i thought that it was an interesting reference that he made yesterday. i thought that he was speaking directly to the iranian

government and, beyond them, to the iranian people, to get this message across the united states has a lot of international backing. and that there is a big, big push right now to see if we and other countries can sit down with iran, negotiate our differences, prevent them from becoming a nuclear weapons power, and getting the atomic energy commission to watch to make sure they do not go beyond what they should be doing in terms of enrichment. the president has put the toughest sanctions ever in place against iran and he has reserved the right as absolutely necessary at the end of the day for the united states to use force, but he has put that off to focus on diplomacy. what is interesting about this is i work for george w. bush and condoleezza rice on this issue for years. there is a remarkable similarity

between these policies and i get this sense in my discussion with senators and congressmen and women on capitol hill that there is a basic bipartisan support for this policy that the last two american presidents have undertaken. we do not want to go to war right now, we do not want to open up the possibility of a third land war. we want to focus on diplomacy in that sense. we also want to be tough, protecting israel and our friends in the arab world. to me, it is a sensible policy and i think we ought to give him the time, or governor romney if he is elected, the time to negotiate with the iranians. we have not had a sustained, substantive conversation with the iranian government since the jury carter administration. so, it really is in our interest to talk to them. not because we like that

government, we do not, but we want to resolve this peacefully and not through warfare. host: role with, new york, welcome to the program. you are on with nicholas burns up in boston. caller: new york city was on high alert with active police officers in the embassies and synagogues. obama did nothing. i think that if bush was there there would have been 50 marines on rooftops with sniper rifles. i heard from a friend of mine, fbi agent, the media does not think so. who is supposed to stand up for these guys? you know what i am staying? host: how do you think the

administration handled libya? guest: let me just say, i have worked for both republican and democratic administrations. i really think that it is unfair to level such a criticism of president obama. he has been a very strong leader on protecting this country, as president bush was. both presidents have put the security of the american people as job number one, as they should. they have both been strong in that area, it is unfair. libya was a tragic event. ambassador stephens died two weeks ago today. the responsibility for guarding our embassies in conflict overseas, there is not an american military protecting our embassies. it is the host country that provides perimeter security around different establishments.

so, let us down? in cairo? the egyptian government did not have enough security to run the embassy, which is why the crowd went over the wall. it was the libyans who led us down in been gauzy, when ambassador stevens was killed. it is not appropriate to somehow blame the state department or the white house for this. obviously, we have to do everything we can to protect our people. president obama got on the phone with the president of egypt and basically said -- you have got to do a better job -- this is my paraphrasing based on what i have read -- but basically, you have got to do a better job. this is a time for americans to band together. we are depending on those diplomats to represent us. host: eric, on the line for democrats. hello. caller: thank you for taking my

call. first of all, the gop always says that there is a liberal media, but that cannot be further from the truth, because all media is corporate owned. when you are a tv person, all you are doing is what your boss told you to do. corporations are owned by rich people who, for the most part, are going to be republican, meeting that all media is right wing, or center-right -- i want to talk about iran. mitt romney do not have any reason to run for president. he is not trying to help the people, especially the poor. so why is he running? he is running for rich people.

he doesn't have any backbone. he goes whichever way the wind blows. he will go to war with iran. that is very scary. guest: thank you for your question. i have developed a healthy respect for the media. i was a spokesman for warren christopher and madeleine albright. the media plays an indispensable role in our society. they ask the tough questions that need to be asked. they are very independent people. the journalists are independent and doing their job.

we are lucky to have them. governor romney has been a very successful person and whenever he has done. i think he was a good governor of massachusetts. i lived in massachusetts. he has had a tough presidential campaign. foreign policy -- he doesn't have attraction. he has not been able to articulate a compelling view about how he would leave this country in a different direction than president obama. maybe he can begin to do that. he gave a good speech yesterday on our development policies. he needs to do more than that -- more of that in the debates.

president obama and governor romney have different views about where to take this country internationally. host: where you expecting from the speech by the iranian leader today? guest: mach mod ahmadinejad -- mahmoud ahmadinejad is a fool. er.is a israel pahat denies the holocaust. he lost most of his power. he is not the most significant leader in iran. i would expect a lot of lies about the united states. iran has very low support.

they have support from hezbollah and the syrian government. most countries want nothing to do with the iranians. they have been violating their commitments on their nuclear enrichment programs. it is a program on the defensive. president obama has been doing a good job of pushing the iranians into a corner and we should continue that policy matter who wins the election and prevent them from getting a nuclear weapon. host: susan from new york. caller: good morning. their comments are very great. i have two questions, one regarding libya.

one is regarding libya. the you think the al qaeda attacks and on the guy that made the film in california? regarding the foreign policy issue, do you think that president obama has more of a high-tech idea of our military in the future rather than the boots on the ground type of military we have seen in the past where we put our boys in harm's way? guest: those are good questions. it is unclear what happens in libya. we know there was a demonstration at the consulate

in benghazi. ambassador stevens was there for the day. there may of been an organized terrorist attack. the state department is investigating on this. i like to say i was a member of the american foreign service for many years. this was a terribly tragic day for the american foreign service. we lost four outstanding foreign servants. the state department has not lost some into a terrorist attacks since 1979. this is a dangerous business in the most dangerous parts of the world. boy, our men and women deserve our support and our thanks

serving our country overseas. on the second question, pertaining to governor romney, he just needs to present a more compelling vision of what he wants to do with foreign policy for the united states. he has talked a lot about military modernization and about maintaining the strength of our air force. i think he is right about that. president obama has a modern view of how it wants to use the military. he decided he would take us out of iraq and he would begin to draw down in afghanistan. he said most of the combat troops would be out in 2014.

we have fought two major land wars simultaneously. i think president obama wants to avoid land wars if we can in the future and use the comparative advantage that we have and that is our air power and sea power. you see him do that in afghanistan and yemen and somalia and it has been effective. i think the strategy is a good one. host: we have about 20 minutes left with our guest. republican named rick. caller: the justification for taking out anwar al-awlaki. can you justify taking out his

16-year-old son at a dinner party with his friends ? guest: that is a tough question. i'm not a lawyer. anwar al-awlaki was an american citizen but inside it terrorism against every other american. he was part of a terrorist group that would inflict a terrorist attacks on our country. i think our government had a right to go after him. as to his son, i don't have any special knowledge about what happened in the attack. terrorists put themselves on the line and we have an obligation to go after them and i do think president obama has been right to wage a tough campaign against

al qaeda. al qaeda it is an enemy of the united states. host: we had this headline in " the washington times." "tells support for the rebels -- total support for the rebels." what is your take? guest: at least 25,000 people have died in syria. president obama said the right thing yesterday. the dictator of syria has to go. there has to be in the government. the syrian government is just strong enough to stay in power.

they seem to be evenly matched. there doesn't seem to be a clear winner in this war. russia and china are blocking every attempt by the u.n. security council to help the refugees or the rebel alliance or to give a straight message to the dictator in syria. so they are no help. president obama does not want to intervene with troops because it would take too many american troops. i think he is made the right decision not to put american troops in. women have to consider arming the rebels -- we now have to consider arm the rebels. these poor people have lost

their home and kids cannot go to school. it is a terrible story. i think the united states has to reconsider the policy of not arming the rebels. host: one viewer wants to hear from you via twitter. guest: they say hindsight is 20/20. i think president bush was a fine person and did a lot of good things for this country. i think the iraq war was a mistake. there weren't weapons of mass destruction at the time. young men and women gave their lives for that effort. it cost us over $1 trillion and

harm the basic credibility of this country. if we could go back to 2003, i would not recommend that we invade in iraq. it was a war of choice. the decision to go when afghanistan was a war of necessity. we had to go after osama bin laden. host: samuel, good morning from virginia. caller: good morning. you hear me well? host: yes. caller: justifiable credit to our president. hello, mr. burns. guest: good morning. caller: i was impressed by the

president's speech. i think he gave a very excellent speech about freedom, freedom for the people in the middle east. they give him a standing ovation -- they were appreciative of what he was saying. people who hate the president of the united states should ask who they are supportive of our what they are supportive of. they claim to be patriotic people but they despised our president. i did nothing that has anything to do with his policy but that he is a black president and the evidence proves that beyond a shadow of a doubt. guest: thank you for your comments. i think the president is a

dignified, effective leader for the united states. i think his foreign policy has been strong, impressive, and very impressive in protecting the american people. he has been able to reach out to the muslim world. he has tried to repair some of these divisions. i travel a lot and go to india and europe and i can tell you people respect him overseas and like him. he presents a positive image for our country. i admire him and think he is coming fine job for our country. host: one more point about iran. another story in "the washington times" about how the west may

welcome back someone named afsanjani.hn guest: he is the former president of iran. he is more moderate than someone like ahmadinejad. this leadership of iran -- they have the hateful policy toward the state of israel and have been developing this nuclear weapons program. i'm not sure if it will make a big difference. the real power in that country is the supreme leader. i mention his name before. he is the successor to the ayatollah khamenei who died several years ago. he has a distorted view of the united states. it appears he is trying to block our efforts that might

resolve this nuclear issue peacefully. make a sure there will crucial difference because power does resist with this supreme leader. we have a real problem with iran. they are trying to create a nuclear weapon. they have been very unhelpful in afghanistan and iraq. i would think that i ran would be the number one national security problem and i hope we can resolve it peacefully. we have to be tough-minded. host: david from connecticut -- joining us from boston. caller: how does the u.s. expect

cooperation from china and russia on syria? every time there is a vote in the u.n., the u.s. videos that u.n. vote. i like to know -- the palestinians -- or was it a try to gain recently from the u.n. and it was vetoed by the u.s. and israel? ahmadinejad -- i heard he was misquoted on that statement or a wanted to wipe israel off the map. he wanted to say zionism was going to fall by its own volition.

host: you can take any or all of them. guest: i've paid close attention to what ahmadinejad said. he said many times that israel should be wiped off the face of the world. they have it out for israel. they want to see israel disappear. it is the obligation of the united states to protect israel. china and russia don't care about the palestinians. spite our differences, the united states has been a good friend to the palestinians and we want to see a peace agreement. there should be an independent state as well as a secure state for israel.

i think it is dangerous to say the chinese and russians care very much because they run cynical foreign policy. host: there is a headline i"the new york times." they have a refurbished soviet carrier that will be used for training and testing for now. guest: there is a major chinese military buildup under way and it will continue for years and decades to come. we have a balancing act with china. china is the leading creditor of the united states. we have a highly integrated relationship with china. we do not want to go to war with china.

we do not want to see china become a dominant power in east asia. the united states has been the garden -- guardian of security in east asia. marines into northern australia and reinforcing our alliances with japan and south korea. i think that is the proper strategy. we are a -- i do think this will be the number-one issue in american foreign policy for the next decade or more and should be a big issue in the debates. i think president obama and governor romney have a similar views.

host: one of your has a broad question via twitter. what do you think? guest: i'm not sure if he is referring to regime change in iraq or iran. it is difficult for the united states to plan to topple the regime of another country. we did so successfully and our military was brilliant into iraq and take dislodged saddam hussein. we were there for eight years and everybody knows the sad story of what happened. the united states needs to be the leader in the world but we need to know the value of restraint. we cannot solve everybody's

problems. we cannot fight our way through every problem. we do need to return to diplomacy backed by force. normally the united states has put the diplomats out front and try to resolve our differences peacefully and when our backs are to the wall do we use the military. one mistake we might have made after 9/11 is that we overuse the military. we thought there was a military problem.o every 1 host: dave is calling from illinois it on the republican line. caller: good morning. i disagree with you on saying obama is such a great foreign

policy leader. after the u.n. speech, i would think with israel on the verge of war with iran that he would have met with the israel prime minister or some of our other allies to reassure them that we're behind them. instead he is going on 'the view." he spent $7,000 running an ad in pakistan. he said nothing about the art display with the crucifix and urine. he goes around apologizing for the u.s. and does not defend things that are happening here. host: nicholas burns. guest: thank you for your

question. i do not see president obama apologizing for very much. think this charge that he apologizes excessively is wrong. i listened to his speech yesterday. he did not apologize for that video. that is a vile and hateful video. america was built on religious tolerance. we believe that muslims should be freed as christians and others should be free to practice their religion is s. that is all the president is saying. i think it is important that the united states and israel be together here publicly. there is a separation between

the u.s. and israeli governments which is not healthy. you want to have a united front publicly. it did not want to disagree in front of our adversaries -- you do not want to disagree in front of our adversaries. we'll have an honest disagreement with the israeli government. prime minister netanyahu has intervened in our political campaign by suggesting the united states should draw military force if iran does x, y, or z. that doesn't make sense to me. we should want our president to be able to use his own judgment at the time to make this

decision. i agree with president obama. try to restrain israel and preventing israel from attacking is the right decision. we should support israel. again, i think the president is showing a lot of wisdom here. host: this is a photo from "the new york times." "train allies in afghanistan, with their guard fully up." what do you make of what some are calling the diminishing role of nato in afghanistan? guest:.

nato into afghanistan after 9/11. i think we have to wind this or down. we have been there for 11 years. there is no conventional victory for us. we should honor our troops for their service. we cannot defeat the taliban. the only way out is to do what president obama and hillary clinton are trying to do and that is to promote negotiations between the afghan government and the taliban, but drawdown american forces. that is the only way out for the united states. we're training hundreds of thousands of afghan soldiers and

some have been turning their guns on the american allies and killing our soldiers. our military has put restrictions on the type of training we do to inhabit these attacks. the afghan government is very weak. you have to wonder -- the afghan government has to do a better job of vetting the people that go into military. host: one last call for our guest. caller: hi. i wanted to talk about the caller who talks about mitt romney running for president on his own agenda. i think he is not the right person. i cannot see him running our country and bring us into war. he alludes to some war in iran.

he has five healthy sons that have not served in the military. he is out there for his own agenda. vice-president biden has one son that is patriotic to our country. host: how about a final thought from you in a broad sense about campaign 2012 that foreign policy would plaly. guest: governor romney is a patriotic american and wants to contribute. i think he is having a problem in the campaign. foreign policy is becoming a bigger issue because of these terrible events in the middle east. both candidates want to sanction

china because of the threat of war. i think president obama has the advantage going into the debate. the present's record is very solid -- the president's record is very solid. mitt romney has to develop some well considered ideas -- here's what i would do on the big issues. how we can stop iran from becoming a nuclear weapons power. how do we bring peace to the palestinians? that is a debate we should have. it should not be partisan. i am looking for to the debates. host: nicholas burns, former

u.s. ambassador and now teaching at the harvard. thank you for joining us this morning. guest: thank you very much. host: we will take a brief timeout. we will focus on the state of virginia. the c-span school bus is touring the political battleground state of virginia and has stopped at norfolk state university. elsie barnes will be joining us to talk about the importance of virginia in campaign 2012. paul glastris will talk to us in our spotlight on a magazine segment. he is with "the washington monthly" and consumer financial protection bureau will be the topics there.

>> an update on the presidential elections. president obama is getting less debate practice that mitt romney and has blocked out three days to prepare. is scheduled to begin on sunday and includes time for his daily briefings and three afternoon debate sessions. president obama has canceled some preparation because of events in the middle east. mitt romney has made his first direct to camera spot where he said "we should not measure compassion by how many people are on welfare. we should measure compassion by how many people are able to get off welfare and get a good job." "the word compassion and the message of lifting people from poverty seems aimed at

containing damage from the governor romney's remarks at a secret tape fund-raiser in may." mitt romney and president obama hit the campaign trail today in ohio. those are some of the latest headlines on c-span radio. [video clip] >> we underestimate how much we forget of our own ideas and of the things we read. we're just terrible. even those of us who have good memories will forget, particularly if an idea is just a fleeting something is interesting and then it disappears. one of the things i have found a lot of people do and i try to do it as well is not just to write everything down, but to keep everything tied together. don't overorganize your notes. don't put them off in folders and things like that. you want to allow interesting colissions to happen between your ideas. the important thing is to go back and reread all those notes.

go back and look at your notes from six years ago and revisit that past self and all the ideas he or she had. that's what the conflict was like for most of the great minds of the enlightenment. they would stitch together these passages from books they read, that they were inspired by, and they would write their own notes sometimes and then they would go back and reread this book which was a kind of remixed kind of sample, kind of clippings of all these other ideas and their intellectual presence in their intellectual self was formed by this constant kind of rereading and re-imagining of other people's ideas. >> steven johnson will be our guest next month, taking your calls, e-mails, and tweets on "in depth." the science writer and columnist for "discover" magazine will look at the cyberworld's popular culture and computer networking in politics. live sunday october 7 at noon eastern on c-span2's "book tv."

"washington journal" continues. host: elsie barnes is on your screen and is a professor of political science joining us on our c-span school bus. thank you for joining us. guest: thank you. host: what is the role of virginia in this presidential race? guest: krajina is one of the swing states -- virginia is one of the swing states as evidenced by the number of visits candidates are making to the virginia area. they have been in and out of the hamilton area. virginians have many of the same concerns as people nationwide have -- jobs, taxes, debt.

host: and president obama won in 2008.e back state back guest: president obama won the state by several points. i don't remember the exact percentage range. it was 56 points, i believe, to 43% for maccain. there abouts in that range. he won basically by winning significant portion of the youth vote. he won an overwhelming portion of the minority vote, the african-american vote.

he did not do well among white males. he did very well in northern virginia. he did very well in hampton roads. not so well in southwestern virginia. i think that this time around he has work to do. enthusiasm is building. enthusiasm is not at this point where it was in 2008. host: -- has 13 electoral votes at stake. elsie barnes will take some calls in a moment. we will put the phone numbers on the bottom of the screen for our guest. we'll get to those calls and in minutes for democrats and republicans and independents.

about a million people in virginia -- about eight million people in virginia. 19% are african-american. 8% are hispanic. the unemployment rate is about 5.9%. we have a fourth full line for virginia residents and we'll put that line on the screen. our guest is elsie barnes. speak to us about the issues in play this year. is the economy most important? guest: virginia's unemployment rate is below the national average, jobs are a major

concern. generally people focused on the unemployment rate, which is an important factor. take those individuals better under employed. those are individuals that are working but not in positions that would enable them to pay their bills. that is a big concern. individuals have been transferred out of positions that were higher paid positions to lower positions or they have to change careers altogether. this is a major adjustment. the hampton roads area is a military area. you have individuals entering the military. there in the labor pool and are seeking employment that is not under employment but employment that will enable them to maintain life styles that they

want for themselves and their families. host: i wanted to hear more from you about this idea of enthusiasm. you said it is building. tell us more of your thinking these days. guest: the enthusiasm gap is building but it's not where was in 2008. there are a number of factors into play. president obama's tennessee was a novelty -- candidacy was a novelty in 2008. the first african-american to have a reasonable chance to win the presidency. people wanted to be a part of history in that regard. they turned out to vote and

volunteer. they gave money and supported the candidate in other ways. in 2012, president obama has had time in office. individuals have had time for their enthusiasm to wane. reality has set in. the president has not been able to address all the major issues of concern in the nation. some people who were enthusiastic about his candidacy prior to taking over the oval office are now in disagreement on some things that he has made decisions on. same-sex marriage, for instance , in the african-american community it is not overwhelming

enthusiasm for things like same- sex marriage. some african-american ministers have come not expressing displeasure with the position taken. some have gone on to encourage congregations not to support the president in that regard. he has some work to do on the enthusiasm gap. mr. romney has some work to do on the enthusiasm gap, as well. not everyone on the conservative leaning side is real pleased with the candidate representing the republican party in the presidential race. they are certainly not happy

with president obama but they are not enthused about mr. romney, either. so i don't think they will stay home this time. i think there will support the candidate but with less enthusiasm for mr. romney and both candidates have a gap in the enthusiasm in their base. i think mr romney more so than president obama. host: our guest is elsie barnes of norfolk state university. our first call is from crest, a democrat -- chris. caller: it seems the presidential race is in the bag for president obama. we need a senate bill will support him.

we to get rid of skype brand in massachusetts and elect chris murphy in connecticut. his opponent is someone who demeans women and the means human beings with her wrestle mania. what do you think about the senate race in virginia, ma'am? guest: i did not agree with you that the presidential race is in the bag for mr. obama, president obama. i think virginians can be independence in terms of charting a particular course. i did not think virginians like to be taken for granted. to say that purging it is in the bag for president obama is probably a bit premature.

of course the polling looks good right now. it is always good to be ahead rather than behind. there's a long way until election day. as far as the center of campaign, a lot of that will hinge upon how the presidential campaign goes. the base support for each candidate -- both candidates in virginia are former governor's. they each have a hard core unit of support. they have their differences in terms of the delight --direction that the country should go and the direction for virginia. they are in a lively contest. mr. allen seems to have more

support from an external contributors than mr. kaine at iss point but mr. kaine holding his own. both candidates have inundated the airwaves with ads and phone calls to residences. overall, i think this is still very much a situation where the contest is not in the bag for anyone, at the senatorial or presidential level. host: independent call for professor elsie barnes, walter. caller: thank you for taking my call. i voted for president obama four years ago. i am an independent. i don't care what the label is.

i voted for president obama because he said george bush was unpatriotic for having an $8 trillion debt. four years later, he is not kept his promise. didn't do what he has promised. ot.ill give mitt romney a sh they get so brutally nasty and say -- the republicans want dirty air and dirty water. it is terrible stuff. most americans if you ask them basic questions, they don't have a clue.

both sides people drown by these slogans. obama was saying hope and change. let's be part of history and led a black man become president. we will go from there. host: i wanted to follow-up on his comment by showing an ad from the romney campaign that deals with job loss and cuts in virginia. here's a look. [video clip] >> this president cannot tell us you're better off than when he took office. >> his defense cuts threaten over 130,000. the romney plan -- create over 340,000 jobs for virginia.

host: more of your take on the economic message by mitt romney. guest: it is not where people would like it toda be. it's not or president obama or mitt romney would like it to be. i thing it is better than where it was in 2008. economic turnaround to take a great deal of time, particularly the extent that the economy was in in 2008. i think politicians in general tol admit that there's work be done. this agreement obviously is that you haven't done enough in

the amount of time that you have so that you need to give someone else a chance. i want to comment on the caller's comments about the tone and tenor of the campaign. the tone is not good. it is very vitriolic. the tone is as it is because candidates have found that it works. so the voters decide that "i've had enough." then candidates will continue to do it. it is much like the stories on the front page above the fold in newspapers. i'm probably a dying breed of people who like to hold a

newspaper in my hand in the morning. the stories above the fold and not the human interest toristors -- "woman adopts five cats, in them from going to the animal shelter." dig insound bites that begi and gouge -- candidates will continue to do that thing. host: howard is on the line for elsie barnes. hello, howard. caller: thank you, c-span. let me ask you -- what is the bus like inside? pretty nice?

guest: it is pretty standard. he could not say tpa luxury bus -- you could not say it is a luxury bus. i think c-span for the seat. i am comfortable. host: we're glad you're comfortable. this is a look at the outside of the bus. caller: i was interested in the senatorial campaign. governor allen had the faux pa andciacialrati comment.

you mentioned the youth vote. it was quite strong in california. the california senate is in its own world. do you see empathy in the kids that you talk to in the coffee shops? what is the tone of the youth vote in virginia? host: thank you, howard. guest: i think the call referred to the comment about race was one that mr. allen made some years ago. i did not think that is in play this year. i would think that the senatorial candidate has been fairly successful in not having the race broken-down on race or

ethnicity. as far as the youth vote is concerned, i think that that vote is picking up momentum. it is not where it is -- where was in 2008 at this point with registrations and what have you. both campaigns are working to mobilize the youth vote. it brings to mind some concern about what has been referred to as voter suppression. virginia has not been exempt from those discussions on a voter suppression. students in that category as targets for suppressing the vote. i think that is a major concern

of the democrats because students tend to vote for the democratic ticket. it remains to be seen how these challenge the vote initiatives will play out on election day. there have been some challenges already in terms of pre-election registration. the republican party in virginia it challenged petition submitted by the constitutional party candidate primarily for the simple reason that the republican party -- the candidate would siphon votes from mr. romney. the constitutional party is on the ballot in virginia.

the candidate himself is pulling in the low single digits. i think perhaps the republican party is not so concerned now as the party was concerned earlier on in the year. host: we have this story in the metro section of "the washington post." host: had you heard about this?

guest: i have not read that story this morning. i am aware that virginia and other places in the nation has not been immune from disparaging portrayals of the president. for instance, when mr. eastwood talk to the empty chair at the republican national convention, some individuals fouthought it would be appropriate to hang an empty chair from a tree. one of them happened in virginia. for the most part, the candidates are roundly condemning those far-out expressions of what the

individuals are doing in terms of freedom of speech. host: we have about 50 minutes left with our guest, elsie barnes -- we have about 15 minutes left. professor, we're showing a map on the screen of the state of virginia looking back to 2008 voted.ple arhave large swaths for senator mccain. give us a sense of how the state is laid out and how that has changed over the years electorally? guest: phrygian traditionally years ago -- virginia was a democratic state of the byrd

machine and it changed as the times changed. people were democratic were less enthusiastic about some of the demographic changes, the voting rights act, and they become republicans. the constitutional party candidate started out in politics in virginia as a democrat. then he became an independent. then he became a republican. schools closed in norfolk rather than to have blacks and whites together.

but i don't think that the racial animosity in virginia is at an all-time high. it is present, but i think that the people of virginia have handled the situations and issues on race very well. people realize that there are going to be individuals on the far end and that incidents will happen. as a virginian, i thing the tone is not one of abject hostility. that askse's a tweet about urban centers such as northwest. social concerns such as homicide --

guest: give me the question again, please. host: he is asking whether homicides would affect lower turnout this year, homicides in urban centers like norfolk? guest: homicide rates vary in virginia. there's quite a high rate in richmond. norfolk is somewhat high. any homicide is more than people would like. i really don't think the homicide rate impacts the voter turnout. host: let's get a call from los angeles, fran in los angeles on the democratic line. caller: good morning, c-span, and professor.

romney outsourced jobs to china when he was the owner of bain capital from 1998 to 2002. he has said that he's not concerned about the poor. the republicans blocked the jobs bill that president obama offered, because they wanted him to fail. why do you think that mr. romney and the republicans would do better than president obama in the next four years? necessarily think that mr. romney and the republicans would do better in the next four years, personally. however, i do think that mr. romney and other republicans have an audience in virginia, a core element of support. those individuals feel that mr. romney and the republicans will do better.

there's a sentiment in virginia that government is too big and the debt is too high. i don't think anyone would disagree with the fact that the debt is too high. some opponents of president obama are saying you have had your chance, so give someone else a chance. and there's the talk about whether or not president obama deserves another chance. that's why voter education initiatives are so important. that's what democracy is all about. even though some people behave as if you can put democracy on autopilots -- you cannot -- democracy must be nurtured. i would not like to see a one- party system. basically, what we have now is a

two-party system. i think the more views we have, the more vibrant the discussions, the better off we will be. democracy is in essence government of the people. people of all persuasions should have the opportunity to weigh in. that brings to mind the concern about the supreme court ruling, citizens united. democracy cannot survive if you do not have a very large and active middle-class. the middle class serves as a buffer between the very poor and the very rich. this particle supreme court ruling interjected large amounts of money into campaigning, money

that has the potential of drowning out the voices of a very large number of citizens. when you have money having that much influence, you are moving from the democracy that we cherished and value to a plutocracy, which is ruled by the wealthy. i don't think anyone wants that. i don't think, necessarily, that the people who are injecting large amounts of money are advocating plutocracy, but that is going to be the bottom line, when you have overwhelming influence of large amounts of money from the very few individuals, you go into that direction. we have to nurture the democracy we have.

we cannot put it on all zero pilot -- we cannot put it on autopilot. we have to make sure the voices of people of all persuasions are hurt. host: professor, the obama campaign this summer began airing an ad in virginia, and they talk about the romney-ryan ticket on abortion and on planned parenthood. [video clip] >> he has made his choice, but what choices will women be left with? paul ryan would get rid of planned parenthood funding just like mitt romney. ryan voted to ban all federal funding for planned parenthood and allow employers to deny women access to cancer screenings and birth control. romney and client support proposal to outlaw abortion even in cases of rape and. rob wittman, for president, the choice is ours. -- for women,.

for women, for president. host: what impact has that had? guest: women in virginia have jobs and households and hold very strategic positions in the employment sector. most of all, women in va overall do not like to be dictated to by males who seem to not have an understanding of the things that women feel are important. the abortion issue has had a bumpy road during this campaign season.

the virginia general assembly has some actions on abortion which played a nationwide. and it did not fare well in the state overall. women were concerned and voiced their concerns. of course we had concerns coming from women on all sides. but i think the women who are supportive of choice and nonintervention of man dictating the very specifics about what women should do were heard the loudest. host: jimmy is on the line from florida, a republican. good morning. caller: good morning, sir. i have friends and family in virginia. they said that since obama has

gotten in office, it has become as divided as this country has ever been. in florida i am looking at the same scenario. i have many friends who have committed suicide over the last four years. people that had plans and dreams to go to college that shot somebody just do it through the worst recession that we have seen in my life. i worked on wall street at one time from 1988 through 1991. i worked at century 21 8 years in new jersey. host: jimmy, you have a question for our guest, a professor? guest: i do. actually, what i see with

president obama, he has mentioned the change. i know he was left in a very bad position from the get go, but he promised change. there's 23 million people unemployed. family turned against family, friend against friend. the war has gone this far already. it seems like he is pushing for jerusalem -- eastern jerusalem to go to the palestinians. in the bible in judges, it kind of quotes that it would be

for us torael's honor take on -- i think we have already pushed ourselves to the limit financially. host: professor, is there anything you want to respond to from the caller? guest: i do want to respond to the part that addresses campaign slogans. president obama campaigned on hope and change. people feel that the change has not been rapid enough. but there are significant numbers of people who feel that change has occurred and that change has occurred in a very difficult environment. it is certainly up to individuals to judge for themselves whether that change

has been something that they thought should occur that they should be supportive of. obviously, there are people who feel that the campaign's slogan of "hope and change" has not transpired. that is one of the things that you come across in campaigns. you have to get a slogan. it has to be snappy. it cannot be too long and people latch onto it and they start to hold you to it. when you hit the real world of actually heading the government and doing all the things that need to be done, you find that you cannot do things as rapidly as you would like. you will find some things you cannot do at all because of the political climate. people sometimes have the

impression that the president with the stroke of a pen or simply by saying i command, and things will get done. the political process in the united states is very complex. you have lots of players. all of these players must work in concert. and when things break down in a major part of the process, things just don't get done or things take a lot longer to get done. sometimes you can get agreement on having things get done and you have a disagreement on how you are going to reach it or where the money will come from and at what point should the change commence. so there are many, many things that play into changing things,

programs, initiatives, rolling things. it is an infinitely complex process. host: mae is on our independent line. caller: i traveled around the country. you said that there was something stopping the community, the white community and that they don't want to vote for a mormon. when did comes to virginia, they need to send the cameras down there. they had to take down the pictures of obama that these people keep coming up with. it's not about the man's color.

haveu are poor and don't anything, you would rather see the country go down. host: what will you be looking for this time around? guest: would you restate your question? host: what will you be looking for the rest of the way in this campaign as far as the importance of virginia this time around? guest: i think the three debates coming up will be [ indiscernible]. the impact of the women in the campaign, and we will surely look at how social issues play into the outcomes of the campaign.

overall, i think that that the foreign policy aspect that was not initially on the radar screen as a focal point, how that will play in the outcome of the election in virginia. virginia has very strong military ties. people are concerned about not only the employment aspect of its but the war aspect of it, because people are deployed from virginia. they come back home to virginia military bases. overall, i think that there are a number of factors. i would not sign any single issue a -- i would not tie any single to issue as overwhelmingly important in this presidential election.

host: elsie barnes has been joining us from the campaign 2012 bus which is at norfolk state university today. professor barnes is a professor of political science. thanks for your time and your insight on the estate and on the race this year. i appreciate it. guest: my pleasure. host: we will take another short break and then talk with john glastris in our final segment. he is with the washington monthly. he will talk to us about the consumer financial protection bureau and an article in the current edition of washington monthly. "too important to fail" is the title of. that segment will include your phone calls. we will be back after news from c-span radio. >> international news from the associated press says the protest has turned violent increase. police are using teargas and pepper spray on demonstrators who have been throwing molotov cocktails and bottles in athens

anti--- following an government rally. it's a general strike against new austerity measures in greece. the pakistan taliban is granting amnesty to a cabinet minister who is offering a $100,000 reward for anyone who tells the neighbor of an anti-islamic film produced in the u.s. the film has sparked violent protests across the moslem world. the pakistani taliban spokesman says the minister's offer represents the true spirit of islam and so the taliban are taking the minister of their hit list. the pakistani government says the minister's reviews don't represent official policy. one week from today, early voting in the presidential election begins in ohio, where today both president obama and republican mitt romney will be campaigning. the president will attend rallies at bowling green state and kent state university. mitt romney plans three stops in

major metropolitan areas as part of his bus tour. those are some of the latest headlines on c-span radio. [video clip] >> to foster work and enterprise in the middle east and other developing countries i will initiate something that i will call prosperity pacts, working with the private sector. a program will identify the barriers to investment and trade and on toward your ship -- and entrepreneurship. and will open markets to u.s. trade and they will receive u.s. assistance package is focused on developing institutions of liberty, the rule of law, and property rights. >> we believe freedom and self-determination are not unique to one culture. these are not simply american or western values. they are universal values. even though there will be huge challenges for the transition to democracy, i'm convinced that ultimately the governments of

the people and by the people and for the people is more likely to bring about the stability, prosperity, and individual opportunity to serve as a basis for peace in the world. >> mitt romney and obama will meet in their first presidential abate in october, moderated by jim lehrer. once our live debate preview at 7:00 eastern and then the debate at 9:00. afterwards, your reaction in phone calls, e-mails, and tweets. fall was online at c-span.org. -- follow us. "washington journal" continues. host: john glastris is joining us to talk about your recent article in the magazine entitled "too important to fail." we are talking about the fairly

recent consumer financial protection bureau. guest: that's right. cfpb is a regulatory agency set up to monitor and protect financial instruments. that's everything from mortgages to certain kinds of credit cards, payday loans, all sorts of things that average people use for savings and investment and so forth. they have not been regulated as products until now. it is the failure to regulate them as products that really precipitated the collapse of the financial system and our recession. host: you say that saving the cfpb is essential to restoring the economy and the american dream. guest: let's think about what has happened in the last few years.

the average american family in 1990 the average american savings rate has now gone from 7% to zero. their average debt has gone from 77% of their annual income to 124% of their annual income. that was the case on the eve of the financial collapse. we had almost full employment on the eve of the collapse. we had people with jobs. they just could not meet their mortgages and their mortgages had a lot of weirdness and exploding pavement and so forth. that precipitated the crash. if we want to have a robust economy, we need a system where the financial system helps people save and invest and grow and have retirement security rather than the system that we now have where financial firms make their money trying to pick your pockets with fees and so forth. caller: hhost: our guest will bh

us about 35 minutes. the phone numbers on the bottom of the screen for your comments. give us the recent history. it's a fairly new agency. we have seen it announce some actions, but has it succeeded so far? guest: it has been up and running for about 15 months. it has hit the ground running with a whole lot of actions, like any new employees, you want to show your boss that you are indispensable. it has been busy showing its indispensability. the monks the actions it has taken is it took the capital one credit card company and they agreed to t a $150 million agreedo 2.5 million customers who capital one had cheated with

offers of add-ons to their credit cards, things like identity theft protection, which they did not tell customers they charged for or inflated the cost or whatever. capital one did not admit wrongdoing, but it is paying back the money and is paying the money back without a lot of paperwork hassle that you get in a class-action lawsuit and it's changing the way it markets these products, as are a couple of other big companies like discover and american express. it is really beginning to change the way financial services occur. host: the current director richard cordray, how did he come to get this position and what does he bring to the table? guest: classes from ohio. he was the attorney general. originally, the treasurer of the county where columbus, ohio, is. he was brought in as the number

two person under elizabeth warren. elizabeth warren is the person generally credited with coming up with the idea of the cfpb and encourage the president to set up the agency. he did not choose her for the job. he did choose richard cordray in a sort of contentious appointment at the beginning of this yearhe this has been running it ever since. host: explain one thing for us. it reads that -- that's a reference to the fact that it's fairly new. i want to show you a clip from a house hearing last week where congressman japan's ruling question the credibility of the new agency. [video clip] >> you came before us six months

ago as an unlawful appointee and six months later nothing has changed. dodd-frank has made you a very powerful appointee, but it has not made you a legitimate appointee, and it has not made you accountable. it is certainly not personal to you. but as long as this big legal cloud hangs over you and your agency, your credibility and efficacy of both you and your agency are compromised. >> i would say you have a tremendous credibility, particularly with college students you are helping, the veterans, the seniors. things that help people understand their finances. the cfpb is already one of the most accountable federal agencies and the numerous cfpb ts to defang tehe

with major pieces of legislation put forth by this committee are really election-year efforts by those wh o never wanted to create the agency in the first place. host: they are still debating the existence of this agency. guest: there are two levels of this. maloney would say that they did not want the agency to be created, the republicans. they did not like the structure of the agency and they did everything they could to stop it. they did not vote for it and they did not vote for dodd- frank. they took particular exception to the way richard cordray was appointed. they really would have preferred nobody be appointed so the agency could not get going.

the president can appoint someone temporarily. to block that, they kept congress open, sort of. the president said that is not a proper recess, so he would use -- he said that was a recess, so he would use his recess appointment. now the republicans say it's unconstitutional. host: stuart is on the democratic line in maryland with john glastris of washington monthly it. caller: i would like to mention everything that happened with bush and trying to move forward. we need a chance for things to get the way they should be. host: anything else you would like to add? caller: everything got stagnant with bush. we are in the cold looking for shelter.

i would like everybody to just give this one a chance so we can get through. guest: it probably does fit into the general debate at the heart of the presidential race, which is, going forward, this is the obama administration's tagline. they would say let's let the agency do its job. the republican position is is ill-advised and we would like kill it or change it. host: how widespread is predatory lending these days and what is the agency currently doing about? about guest: predatory lending is deceptive lending practices o. it is extremely widespread. if you pick up a credit card application, you will see dozens of pages of fine print that is hard for anybody to really get

through and most people don't even try. there are teaser rates, for instance, a lower rate on credit cards in a short amount of time that would triple or quadruple and they don't tell you that the upfront. it's in the fine print. it's very widespread. almost the essence of the new agency is to and changed the terms of debate so that predatory lending is very hard for companies to get away with, so that they have to make their money helping people save and invest and advance themselves financially rather than the way the system now is. so many financial firms make their money by doing the opposite, by draining your finances. host: there's a story in the post to date in the economy and business section --

guest: that's right. another great power that it has is the tremendous ability to gather data from banks, credit card companies. it will probably be the entity that has the most real time data on the financial system. to do this kind of research, to find out these kind of discrepancies, to find out ways in which banks and lenders use disclosure and applications and sales pitches to get boris to take loans that may not be in their interest. host: how big is this agency and what is its budget and how many people? is it only based in d.c.? guest: it has a few other people and is based in d.c. and its offices aren't aren't 73 and g street right across from the

white house's old executive office building. in the building that used to be the office of thrift supervision, that is no longer in existence, the agency that used to regulate thrift. they are based here. their budget, it is interesting, most agencies get their budgets either from fees that they charge that, the institutions they regulate, or congressional regulation. the cfpb gets a percentage of the federal reserve budget, is set amount of money, so it benefits from industry and from congress. host: let's hear from steve, republican in florida. caller: good morning. thanks for taking my call. you pointed out the guest's article where he states that this agency is going to restore the american dream.

you've got to be kidding. that is laughable. it sounds like obama and you did not build it. the american dream has been made by hard-working individual americans. no agency of the federal government can possibly ever restore that. my question is, how can you possibly claim that when it was a pseudo government agency, fannie and freddie, overseen by dodd adn frank, which caused the collapse of the financial system -- dodd and frank, giving loans to people that could never afford to pay them back? guest: i will just say that the idea that fannie and freddie would cause the financial crisis is widely held in some circles. i don't believe it's true.

the cause of the financial crisis was the subprime mortgages that were peddled by firms that were not under the supervision of the federal government in any serious way, certainly not fannie and freddie. there were the leading edge of that and we are still paying the price. host: here is the front cover the july and august edition of the washington monthly -- inside is the piece entitled "too important to fail." our guest is the editor-in- chief. now call from barstow, california, karen, an independent. caller: hello. i called because i tried to procs a complaint through the cfpb and i was totally appalled by what took place.

i moved from an area that was predominantly wealthy whites to barstow which is mixed racial and after that my bank completely changed its tune on me about my credit card. i used to get all sorts of our first with great discounts when i lived in the high income area. when i moved to this low-income, racially mixed area, i received a letter is that my credit card rate would be increased 7%. there was no cause for it. my statements of always been on time. this took place several years ago. i contacted the cfpb after i watched a show on c-span and was impressed that i had a right to find some sort of way to address this issue. so i contacted the cfpb. the response was appalling. the response was basically an

echo defending the bank. they did not give me any reason why my credit card rate had increased. all they did was echoed the bank and they said the bank said they have cause for doing this. there was no cause. i'm appalled. after seeing this take place, started to look at what the republicans were saying, that what is going on with obama's administration is maybe they are not taking all the money and giving tax breaks to the rich, but they are funneling the money from the average person and putting it into the pockets of these high handed bureaucrats. guest: that is a disturbing report from a citizen who seems to have had a bad interaction with the cfpb. if i were the cfpb, i would be looking into that. host: on twitter --

guest: well, the cfpb does not actually bring criminal charges. they can investigate and then send those investigations to the justice department. the justice department then prosecutes. the cfpb can bring civil cases. those are not the kind that would send you to jail. the prosecution of predatory lending is an immensely difficult problem. there's a lot more movement on it now that state attorney general's within last year have gotten together and decided they are going to pull their resources to try to put some people in the clink. the obama justice department seems to be behind that. allow people are upset at the lack of prosecutions -- a lot of

people are upset. the webre's a look at site of the consumer financial protection bureau. at the top is -- we can point out a couple other things in a while, but we want to hear a bit more from richard cordray in a recent hearing about the structure of this fairly new agency. [video clip] >> my understanding, and again i was not here when dodd-frank was enacted, it was determined we should have the same accountability as the other banking agencies and should operate on equivalent terms with them. as to the manner in which we are funded and it's true to some extent in the structure as the single comptroller used to been appropriated and now is not

and has an individual at its head. so it makes sense for us to be on par with the other banking agencies and we need to work closely. guest: one of the contentious issues is what kind of accountability they have. richard cordray alluded to something i said before that they have a dedicated fund, so congress cannot determine how much money they have to carry out their mission. it's often the case that congress will deprive an agency of the funds that they need to carry out a mission that the previous. congress gave previous. and that will not be the case with the cfpb,. the other issue is some agencies have a board governing them and some have a single person. republicans would like to see a board. some democrats agree with them. i was talking a high administration official who wondered if that will not ultimately happen. if there's any change at all,

and obama winds and there's any pressure the cfpb to the, and maybe that it goes from a single controller to just a board. host: any further changes will come from congressional approval? guest: that's right, to change the structure of the agency, congress would have to pass legislation and the president would have to sign that. host: the terms for richard cordray, how long does it last? who runs the agency and from along? guest: my understanding is a recess appointment only lasts as long as the congress lasts. so he was recess-appointed at the very beginning of this new congress. i guess he was appointed at the beginning of the year. when the congress is over, i think this term is over. host: then what happens? guest: then it goes through the same battle day of gone through before of trying to find

somebody. my guess is the president will reappoint richard cordray. host: let's go to the democratic line with martha in austin, texas. caller: i am disgusted about what goes on in the country. have you ever heard of portfolio recovery? i have a buddy will lives with me. he has a credit card debt that is over four years old. they call at very strange times. have you heard of this group out of norfolk, virginia, portfolio recovery? i cannot imagine anyone buying credit card debt. guest: i don't know the company. it sounds like a collection agency. credit card companies often sell off their debts to companies that and then use all kinds of means to collect. this is also something that the cfpb will be looking into, i believe it. host: now to abilene, texas, doc. caller: i agree about the credit

card problems. when it comes to mortgage loans, i believe it is the most ridiculous thing i've ever heard. it's like saying, please stop me from taking more money from these people. if you are that stupid -- and everybody knows this -- and i used to be a democrat until the party left me -- i believe it is helping people, but i don't believe in getting shook down to help people. i used to work at a financial institution and we were threatened by a county commissioner in dallas named price who shook us down like jesse jackson. and then dodd-frank came along. what i am trying to say is look at these things that go on. people should be smart enough. if you don't know how to read and write, don't buy a house.

if i appreciate all your help. guest: i wish it were as simple as average people could simply a make good judgments on their mortgages. it has become so complex and deceptive that people who think they are doing the right thing often wind up doing the wrong thing. we are all paying the price for the deception that we have seen from the mortgage companies, the mortgage originators and so forth. the world's historic procession and a low rate of growth since then. so i understand the caller's point but i don't agree with it personally. host: sheila bair, a former head of the fdic in washington, is coming out with a new book. it's about the financial crisis.

she is criticizing tim geithner, the treasury secretary and others. i will read a little. guest: well, it's interesting. the caller we just had it is typical of the sense out there in the country that the obama administration was dealing with, that if you help borrowers who have gotten into trouble, then you are helping people that should've been responsible for their own mortgages, for their own credit cards, and why should you take my tax dollars and give it to the title did not do the

responsible thing that i did. so i think that was a big reason why you saw the administration and congress not do more on the mortgage crisis and the underwater mortgages and so forth. on the part of the banks, sheila bair was sort of a hero pin all this. she really pushed the administration and congress to make dodd-frank stronger than it might otherwise have been. the battles between her and tim geithner are legendary. i personally think that dodd- frank is a stronger bill than it has been given credit for. time will tell. host: now to florida, independent caller, martin. caller: how are you? i read washington monthly every day. i will try to break this down to three things. the investment banks, perhaps we

should remove the sdi insurance -- the fdic insurance from them and let them go on the market and see if they can sell these products on their own without the government providing a safety net for them. for the gentleman who talked about fannie mae, 80% -- 87% of those bad mortgages were all sold by non-bank operators. as far as the credit cards people are talking about, maybe we should set up a loss so you cannot change the rate on loans that are existing. host: any thoughts? guest: first, on the last point, we have had regulations on landing going back to the code of hammurabi, 5000 years ago, or whatever, in the bible. in the first 250 years of the

nation we have limits on how much increase you could charge. beginn the 1970's did we and really getting started in the 1980's and 1990's did get into our heads that we ought to list these things and there would be no downside. cfpbhe idea that what the and other aspects of dodd-frank are doing is somehow a radical and new, it is really an imposition of good sense that civilizations have had for years. i want to also point out that this story we are talking about by an editor of the washington nowthly, it's a great story, he's at the standard magazine. host: let's hear from linda in new castle, pennsylvania, republican line. caller: i am not quite sure.

itunes in a little late i guess -- i tuned in a little late. there was a republican representative that was really disturbed about this organization. was this something that was supposed to go through congress and be voted on before it became an actual organization or a law or is this another thing that president obama used an executive order on? guest: we did talk about this. a law was passed by congress. very few republicans, if any, voted for it. it was passed by the democratic majority. the congressman fell to the appointment was not a recess appointment and that it was wrong for the president to make the appointment. host: a tweet --

guest: well, i have a high opinion of myself and i know i get very frustrated and unsure of my own decisions. literally, yesterday, i almost signed up for a credit card that was to go with an airline miles program. it took me about 15 minutes of asking questions before i found that there was a $95 fee they did not tell me up front about the. so i said i don't want the credit card. it is tiresome and difficult and if you have to really be focused. i get taken all the time. what i want is a system of rules that says, here are the main things you need to look at. here are the things to worry about. if the rules are set up to make it easy for me to see what's

going on, then i feel i will be making better decisions. i think that is what the cfpb is trying to do. host: denise is a democrat in portland, oregon. caller: you don't have to be stupid or a sucker to be in desperate need of help. also, i think it was great to that obama used his presidential powers to push that organization throughout and the leader of it. why did he not use his presidential powers to start two wars like bush did, why did not use his presidential powers for good things? guest: i think that he has begun using his presidential powers more assertively in the last year or so. there was great debate, for instance, about whether he could not use his presidential powers to end the standoff over the

budget, which lowered our credit rating. i thought he should have, personally. president clinton, my old boss, a body should have. president obama thought differently. every administration tries to find a balance between using their authority and abusing their authority. i still think that he has a little bit more play there. host: john glastris was special assistant and senior speech writer to president bill clinton, he wrote over 200 speeches for the president. bookt: we have a new called "elephant in the room: washington in the bush years." it argues that 2012 is thought to be a referendum on barack obama or maybe a referendum on mitt romney. we think it's a referendum on george w. bush, and it's a compilation of some of the best writings in the washington monthly during the bush years. host: on twitter --

guest: i don't believe it can. i don't know what powers it would have to have to do that. i think lobbyists will be able to have their day in front of the cfpb like any other agency. here's one way in which i think the cfpb is different when it comes to lobbying. it was basically built structurally, it's maybe the only agency that is not to be captured by the industries in which it regulates. one of the ways it does that is it has a dedicated source of funding from the federal reserve so that the subcommittees in congress, which are themselves often captured by lobbyists, are not able to manipulate what the cfpb it does. second, the cfpb looks at different aspects of the financial industry. it looks at credit cards and banks and mortgage servicers and

payday lender. all these different things. each of these industries have is a different idea of what it wants the cfpb to do. there's checks and balances. they are not going to be controlled by any one of those industries. host: june is on a line from wisconsin, an independent. caller: hi. the mail orice in rth somebody saying about my bank that if i have ever been charged overdraft fees, then apparently i can get some kind of refund or something and there was a no. i was supposed to call. my question is, is this something the cfpb has done? and will the bank know what i'm talking about when i call them to ask where my money is? guest: it's impossible to know without seeing the letter. what she might have gotten was a class-action lawsuit inquiry from a law firm that thinks the credit card company that she

uses overcharged a lot of customers and they're trying to bring a class-action suit. host: in georgia, eddie, a democrat. caller: good morning. give a man a fish, you feed him for a day. teaching how to fish, you feed him. for a him the credit card companies with all the fine print they have, they should be shouldto to earn their money -- they should be required to earn their money by educating the consumer on how to make money. a lot of consumers are misinformed. it does not mean they are stupid or anything like that. it is just a lot of these practices that they have for getting people's money without the person knowing. a lot of people, trying to keep

their money. the cfpb is a good agency and, i think. host: thanks for calling. guest: we have the federal agencies that regulate the safety and soundness of everything from toasters to airlines to baby cribs. when you purchase an electric appliance, you have some assurance that when you plug it in it's not going to electrocute you, that it will toast the bread the way it says and will not fall apart on you. that is a function of strong federal regulation of the industry's. the only industry we don't do that with until now is the financial-services industry. no wonder people savings have gone down and their debts have got up. they have been swimming in a world in which financial services companies have tried to trick them into draining their

pocketbooks. host: one more call, karen in texas, independent. caller: hi. i appreciate you taking my call. i just wanted to make a comment. basically, i don't mind a different agencies being -- if they are reflective. and i appreciate the oversight that you all have. i am very disturbed about the young lady that called and had such a problem? with interest rates going up. i think that really should be linked into further. i have had very good success. we are lower middle-class income people. we actually depended on credit cards for some medical procedures for two years that i had. we have very good relationships

with our credit card companies. also, i phone them when it shows that the promotion that they gave me 0% for 18 months and then it will go up to 12% or whatever. so we use the credit card to do medical things and then pay it off and then did another and so on. host: final thoughts on the future of the cfpb. guest: i think this election, the cfpb kind of provides the perfect example of what are the stakes in this election. we have a president ready for reelection who created and sponsored this agency, got it up and running. if we have a republican challenger who is on record

saying he would like to either get rid of it or change its structure and finance it debilitating on the economy and bad for growth. really, i think the agency will survive or not survive, based on what happens in november. host: here is the front cover of the july/august issue of washington monthly. in it is the article "too important to fail," talking about the cfpb. guest: on our web site is where it can be read. washingtonmonthly.com. host: thanks for your time, paul. starting at 7:00 eastern every morning we will see you again tomorrow for the news and politics of the day. have a great day. cal[captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2012]